


The Memory of You

by ivorydice



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Action/Adventure, Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst, Ardyn Izunia Redemption, De-Aged Noctis, De-aged Ardyn, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends, Episode Ardyn Prologue Spoilers, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Made up daemons, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possibly slight disturbing imagery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2019-11-04 15:26:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17900726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivorydice/pseuds/ivorydice
Summary: “Are you listening to me? We have a problem.”Noctis focused on the shape above him. As his vision cleared, his confusion grew. A boy stood over him, young, probably ten or so, dark blue eyes staring down at him sharply and black hair flopping over his forehead in a curly, untamed mess.“Who are—” Noctis started, then froze.Why was his voice so high pitched?After finding themselves transformed into children, Noctis and Ardyn are forced to work together if they want any chance of getting their adult bodies back.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiii *waves*
> 
> Posting this first chapter to encourage myself to finally finish this fic. I have more written for it, but I could always have _even more_ written for it, and that would be gooooood *thumbs up*.
> 
> Major thanks to the Episode Ardyn Prologue for reinvigorating me for this fic and others, and for providing some extra, useful details. Needless to say, there will be spoilers for it. Possibly spoilers for what we've seen so far of Episode Ardyn too. So **bewaaare**.
> 
> I'm writing these notes while suffering from a cold, please don't judge me too harshly lmao.
> 
> Also did final edit on this chapter with a cold. I'm _praying_ there's nothing wrong to find. I'll have another look through it once I can think better :D
> 
> What else is there to say other than I love Noctis and Ardyn _so much_.
> 
> Um. Yeah. Enjoyyyy <333

  
  
Ardyn had the same dream he had been having for two millennia.  
  
A field of flowers from a time and place long forgotten. The great expanse of blue above, stretching for eternity. It was peaceful here, away from the great noise of everyday life. Bright and gentle and welcoming. He reached out, brushed his fingers against soft petals.  
  
He hated this place.  
  
Ghostly figures ran along up ahead, chasing after each other with laughter echoing for miles around them, disappearing and reappearing as they tumbled and rolled through the flowers. Trickery. He supposed they wanted to stir feelings of whimsical nostalgia deep within. How foolish they were; it only resulted in bitterness and seething anger instead.  
  
Above him, black lines crawled across the sky like vines. Beneath his feet, they stretched out and burned the grass, choking the stems of nearby flowers until they turned into black, calcified statues.  
  
It was always the same dream. Beautiful things,  _familiar_ things, reaching out to him in a longing embrace, only to be shunned by the dark within, until he was consumed with that familiar, overwhelming hatred.  
  
_Please_ , a voice would say, as it always did. Melodic, bright, a tone beyond human capability, yet reaching his ears and seeping into his body all the same.  _You are stronger than this._  
  
And, like always, he wouldn’t listen to it.  
  
Ardyn looked back up at the ghostly figures, faded images of times long past gone. Trying to reach into him, to appeal to something familiar, something that would listen to them and obey. Something that had died millennia ago, left to rot in the dark, never to see the light of day again.  
  
He wouldn’t listen to them. To any of them.  
  
It was their fault.  
  
Ardyn woke like he always did, with something bitter in his mouth, like ash, the memory of that place, the laughter, the  _voice_ , all of it clinging to him frantically, with something clawing at the back of his mind like a desperate plea.  
  
He hated it.  
  
  
~&~  
  
  
It was all Cor’s fault.  
  
He had been the one to suggest they go on a mission together. He had been the one to suggest the others stay behind. He had been the one to suggest that, if things went south and they ended up separated, they would reconvene at Hammerhead.  
  
Like that was a good idea, like that wouldn’t be a total inconvenience if either of them ended up injured or, say, captured and thrown into the back of an imperial airship most likely bound for Niflheim—but for a grim, pessimistic looking guy, Cor seemed to be rather optimistic and had his expectations a little high, so that was that.  
  
Noctis came around slowly and painfully. He lay there for far too long on the floor, mentally cursing out a man who was sworn to protect him, eyes on the ceiling, the hum of the airship’s engine rattling throughout his skull and making his brain ache. He had to fight back a groan at the sensation, nausea welling up for a moment. It only passed when he kept his eyes closed and focused on breathing.  
  
If he actually managed to make it back to Hammerhead in one piece after this, then he was going to  _kill_  Cor. Or demote him. See how he liked that.  
  
He was alone in the main bay, if his quick glance around the airship was anything to go by. It was of little comfort, however. The engine being a constant noise around him clearly meant they were in motion, and if they were flying, then that meant someone else was on the airship with him.  
  
Great. So he would have to take out the soldiers, then somehow learn to pilot an airship, find out where he was, and make his way back to Hammerhead. All with his pounding skull.  
  
He grabbed his phone, but, of course, there was no signal available. There wasn’t much the others could do for him now anyway, not if he was in the air, and certainly not when he had no idea where he was to begin with. Noctis sighed and shoved it into the armoury with a bitter taste in his mouth. It wouldn’t do to keep the thing on him, not where soldiers could easily take it from him and smash it up.  
  
He pressed his temple back onto the cold floor, closing his eyes. He would get up and kick some ass in a minute; right this second, however, he didn’t want to deal with anyone.  
  
Of course, because life just loved to screw him over, that was when he heard a familiar voice floating down from another room. The words were distant and indistinguishable, lost in the roar of the engine around them, but he  _knew_  that voice, it was hard to mistake it for anyone else—  
  
A door slid open. Someone said, “Ah, so you weren’t lying after all.”  
  
“I told you,” another voice answered. Whoever he was, he sounded smug. “I did what others could not.”  
  
“Congratulations on your newfound competence, however inconvenient it may be.”  
  
The stranger let out an annoyed huff. “What are you talking about? His Imperial Majesty has been hounding the country for this little whelp. He’ll be more than pleased to find out that I have him here.”  
  
“Yes, he has been searching the very streets himself,” the other voice said, cheerful and agreeable, with a certain mocking undertone that was hard to miss. Footsteps came closer to where Noctis lay on the floor. Clothes rustled. Something poked him in the shoulder and the voice said, “Are you really unconscious, or is it merely a pretense?”  
  
Noctis opened his eyes and glared up at Ardyn.  
  
Ardyn smiled down at him. “Ah, in there after all.”  
  
“Buzz off,” Noctis muttered.  
  
“Charming as always, I see,” Ardyn chuckled, tilting his head a little. “I must admit, I’m curious as to why you’re all alone. Where are your friends? They haven’t abandoned you, have they?”  
  
Noctis chose not to dignify that with an answer, if a little bitterly. His friends were still back in Hammerhead waiting for his return while the Regalia was being fixed from another accident, probably drooling over poor Cindy—well, maybe not Ignis, did he  _ever_  drool over anyone?—all the while he was stuck on this damn airship.  
  
God damn  _Cor_.  
  
A hand waved in front of his face. Noctis glared up at Ardyn again, then down at the three fingers he was holding up.  
  
“How many fingers do you see?” Ardyn asked. He still had that slight smug tilt to his lips and that patronising way of raising his eyebrows, so Noctis couldn’t really tell if he was joking or not. When he didn’t answer, Ardyn merely nodded, pulling his hand away. “You look dreadful. Do you think you can sit up? I could get you a glass of water, if you’d like.”  
  
“What are you doing?” the other man snapped, still standing by the doorway. “We don’t need to give this boy anything, he’s—”  
  
“It’s only polite to be accommodating to a guest, Preston,” Ardyn said. He didn’t bother looking back at his comrade. “We’re not all brutes such as yourself. Your Majesty, do tell me, on a scale of one to ten how much does your head hurt?”  
  
Noctis forced his hands beneath him and pushed himself up into a sitting position, grunting out, “It’d be a lot better if you got outta my face. Better yet, why don’t you let me hop on out? Think I can walk from here.”  
  
Preston looked livid, his face turning red. “You pompous little—”  
  
“Ah, ah,” Ardyn cut him off again, rising to his full height. He stepped away from Noctis, hands resting on his hips, that amused look on his face once more. “We should be  _polite_  to our guest. Manners don’t cost anything, after all.”  
  
Noctis slowly climbed to his feet, keeping his hands held out in case his legs decided to buckle on him and he would have to catch himself if he fell. The airship didn’t sway too much in his vision, and the nausea wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be while standing upright, but his head still hurt something awful, even now. When he reached up to touch the side of his skull, he thought he could feel dried blood in his hair.  
  
Nothing a potion wouldn’t take care of.  
  
“Well, you’re conscious at least,” Ardyn said. “So whatever is the matter with you, it can’t be too terrible. Head injury, I assume?”  
  
Noctis stared at him.  _Yeah_ , it had been a head injury. He could remember bits of it, being separated from Cor amidst the gunfire and explosions, MTs surrounding him on all sides, swarming in on him like an angry pack, too many for him to handle once the hits kept coming. It had only taken something swinging down onto his head for it all to be over, and they had clearly leapt onto the chance to steal him away as quickly as possible.  
  
Again, damn it Cor.  
  
No, it was his own fault. He should have known to double back, get some cover, instead of going all out and throwing himself into the fray among so many enemies. He had been trained far better than that and there had been better ways to continue with the mission, but he had been reckless anyway.  
  
Noctis looked up at the other two. “Where are you taking me?”  
  
“Niflheim, of course, though I’m certain that much was obvious,” Ardyn smiled back, polite, almost charming. “You _are_ a wanted man, after all.”  
  
Yeah, it had been obvious. It wasn’t any less annoying and alarming to hear, though. “Guess there’s no chance you’ll change your mind about that, then.”  
  
Ardyn tilted his head thoughtfully. “Oh, I don’t know. I can be reasonable. Why, do you have a bargain in mind for me?”  
  
A punch to that smarmy face, maybe. Judging by his smirk, Ardyn knew the answer already.  
  
Preston was seething, his eyes wide and his cheeks red as he snapped out, “I assume you have no knowledge of how to deal with prisoners, Chancellor. He is to be confined until we reach our destination,  _not_  to be treated as your—your esteemed  _guest_. Now, if you'd kindly return to your quarters. This isn’t a cocktail party or—”  
  
Ardyn looked bored as he cut him off once more. “I assume you have no knowledge of how to deal with prisoners either, my good man. Or your superiors. Did you acquire your rank accidentally by any chance?”  
  
Preston spluttered, but said nothing.  
  
“You are aware of who you have in captivity, are you not?” Ardyn continued. “You are aware of the damage he and his comrades have done to multiple bases of ours, the soldiers they’ve decimated again and again, the power he wields?”  
  
Noctis frowned. Ardyn seemed awfully defiant against one of his own. Did he just not like this guy or what?  
  
Not that it mattered. He pulled a potion from the armoury, keeping his hands hidden behind his back. He crushed the bottle between his fingers and let the magic pour into his body. Almost instantly, the pain in his head faded to a dull ache, and then to nothing. All he had to do now was find a way  _off_  this airship. Preferably without dying, and preferably without these two catching on to his intentions.  
  
Yeah, like that sounded easy. And that was without considering the fact he had no idea what he would do if they were already in Niflheim.  
  
“Just what are you saying?” Preston huffed out.  
  
“All of that,” Ardyn said, “and yet you forgot to tie him up. The prince of Lucis, sorry—” his eyes flicked over to Noctis with a mocking sort of apology— “the  _king_  of Lucis, with power you could not possibly comprehend, and you forgot to tie him up and keep him under guard.”  
  
Preston’s eyes went wide as his cheeks turned an unhealthy mixture of white and red. He turned instantly, barking out orders for MTs to pile in the loading bay with them. Four of them lumbered in, red eyes already locked onto Noctis, weapons in their hands.  
  
Great. So much for getting the drop on them.  
  
“Thanks a lot, asshole,” Noctis hissed at Ardyn, glaring.  
  
“Me?” Ardyn blinked, affronted. “What did  _I_  do?”  
  
Noctis ignored him, yanked his sword out of the armoury a little too firmly, and he swung for the closest MT. He let his anger fuel him, channelled it into the swing the way Gladio had taught him years ago.  
  
The blow had the MT stumbling backwards, buckling a little under the pressure, but it wasn’t enough to knock it down entirely. The others were on him instantly, weapons arching down towards him. He quickly phased out of the way, backing up to put some space between them.  
  
Fighting on an airship, it turned out, wasn’t easy. Certainly not with the cramped space, definitely not with the way Preston kept yelling and trying to clamber in on the battle despite his obvious lack of skill. Ardyn merely backed away, taking in the fight with amused eyes and a small smile, and Noctis would stick him with his sword if he wasn’t so intent on not getting his face slammed into the floor.  
  
“Stop at  _once_!” Preston bellowed. He had his own sword drawn, held outwards, tip poking Noctis in his shoulder. But he was only in the way of things; he had to sidestep out of the way of a lumbering MT, looking far less in control of the situation than he would obviously like to be.  
  
Noctis ducked under another attack. He swung his sword at Preston’s, twisting their blades until he disarmed him. Noctis quickly raised his boot and slammed it into his chest, knocking him back and away from the fight.  
  
Something smacked into the side of his head. He stumbled, dazed from the blow, the world tilting sideways. The MT came for him again, weapon raised high. Noctis tightened his fingers around his sword hilt and threw it, warping the short distance. The momentum carried him forward, blade sinking into the trooper’s neck, and they went down. He dug his weapon in hard, until something severed and the MT shrieked beneath him in the beginning of its death throes.  
  
Two down, two to go. Noctis stared the remaining troopers down, flexing his grip on his sword. They weren’t that tough, especially when they weren’t in nearly as many numbers as they had been before back in that base. It certainly helped that Ardyn was keeping out of his way, and Preston seemed to be too dazed to do anything else. Or he was too fearful to jump back in.  
  
The MT on his left looked weaker, its leg damaged and faulty. Noctis switched weapons, throwing his daggers out at it. The leg buckled under the assault. A swift kick to its chest had it falling backwards and away.  
  
A giant hammer swung for him. Noctis ducked, rolled to the side, pressed his hands against the floor for balance. The final MT swung again. Noctis dodged, phasing away, just in time. The hammer swung again, and again, and he had to wince every time it hit the floor as he ducked out of the way. The pounding bounced off the walls, too loud in such a small space, too harsh a blow on the surface. It left dents behind in the metal.  
  
“Stupid machine, just hit him already!” Preston yelled.  
  
Noctis switched back to his sword, but the MT was lumbering towards him already, hammer swinging again before he could do anything, its large body practically falling towards him with the momentum of its movement.  
  
He threw his sword, warping across the other side of the bay. If he could attack it from behind, then he could take it out. He turned just in time to see the MT stumbling forward with the force of its swing, the hammer connecting with the wall.  
  
Big mistake.  
  
The weapon broke through the metal completely, tore it to shreds, connected with something inside with an alarming grinding noise. Sparks flickered out from the hole, multiplying and growing within seconds.  
  
“Oh dear,” Ardyn said softly.  
  
The explosion rocked the entire airship and sent them all off their feet. Alarms blared out in grating shrieks, the lights in the room flashed on and off in sickening red. The engine’s hum turned into a choking groan, rising in pitch and volume until it was almost deafening along with the screech of the alarm. The walls were shaking,  _everything_  was shaking, and Noctis grit his teeth, struggled to find something to hold onto as they began to plummet.  
  
“Look at what you've done!” Preston yelled. His voice was hard to hear over the alarms and the screeching engine and the sound of banging metal. “You damned fool! You—”  
  
“Do shut up!” Ardyn called. He had a hold on a metal bar near the main doors, and he held his free hand out to Noctis. “Give me your hand! I'll hold onto you!”  
  
Noctis glared back at him “Keep away from me!”  
  
He found his own pipe to hold onto, and he clutched at it with all his strength, praying the thing wouldn't rip off in all of the chaos.  
  
The engine kept screaming and choking around them, the alarms blaring so loudly his head ached from it. The red lights flashed on and off and on and off like a bizarre disco, and  _still_  they kept careening downwards—it could  _only_  be downwards, and wasn't that terrifying.  
  
It seemed to take forever. The longest, most heart-stopping moment of his life.  
  
And then they finally hit the ground.  
  
Noctis thought he yelled something as the airship collided with solid land and rolled again and again. The two broken MT shells were tossed from wall to wall, metal bouncing off metal, the other two surviving troopers screeching as they were beaten to death under the onslaught, and still the airship kept rolling. It was jarring, he couldn’t focus on anything but the explosion of sounds in his ears. He held onto the pipe with everything he had, gritting his teeth at the pull in his muscles with the effort to stay in place.  
  
He could only hope one of those MTs didn’t swing into him or else it would all be over.  
  
The airship finally slowed down, tipping precariously, and then—  
  
It was falling again, dropping down, down, down. His breath caught in his throat.  
  
The final impact ripped him from the pipe, and he fell back to the floor with a cry. The crash shook the entire airship, the noise so loud he thought he’d gone deaf for a moment. The shriek of the alarm cut out, and the lights stopped flashing, bathing everything in blood red. Metal groaned and trembled for a few more seconds, but they had finally come to a stop.  
  
Well, at least the airship hadn’t exploded.  
  
Blessed silence. Noctis revelled in the quiet and tried to catch his breath, turning his head to press his temple back to the cool floor, his heart pounding in his chest so hard it felt like it would burst through. He thought he might throw up. At the same time, he almost wanted to laugh hysterically.  
  
They had just fallen out of the sky. He knew the heights airships flew at. What they had just collided with certainly hadn’t been anything good, and just— _how_  he had managed to survive any of that, he wasn’t sure, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to question it. He was back on the ground now, it seemed, and that was what mattered. Now he just had to get away.  
  
“Are you all right?”  
  
Oh,  _hell_  no, why couldn’t he have been the  _only_  survivor?  
  
Ardyn approached him, stepping over the fallen, broken MTs and manoeuvring himself around bent metal until he could reach a hand out to Noctis. “You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”  
  
Noctis sneered up at him and smacked his hand away, climbing to his feet. “I’m  _fine_ ,” he snapped out. “No thanks to you.”  
  
Ardyn smirked. “You are quite welcome, of course.”  
  
Damn it, this man was insufferable. He didn’t even appear to be ruffled from their ordeal. “Shut up,” Noctis snapped. “If you don’t mind, I’m getting the hell outta here.”  
  
He barged past Ardyn and stepped over MT parts, heading for the main doors. He tried it, several times, but the electric switch didn’t seem to work anymore, along with the rest of the airship. He would have to try and cut through the metal with his greatsword, then.  
  
“Well, I can’t see why anyone would  _stay_ , given the state of this craft,” Ardyn was saying. When Noctis glanced back at him, he was toeing his boot against a jagged piece of metal, that stupid smile still on his face. “What a ride, though! Have you ever felt such a rush? I haven’t had that much fun in  _years_.”  
  
Noctis stared at him for a moment, bemused. Was he  _serious_? They had just plummeted out of the _god damn sky_ , crash landed somewhere unknown, his comrade was clearly dead,  _they_  could have died, and Ardyn was  _excited_  about all of this?  
  
“Oh no,” Ardyn said, crouching down beside Preston’s still form, though he didn’t sound or look too concerned about what he saw. “Well, we all meet our ends eventually. Such a pity.”  
  
Geez. “I’m leaving,” Noctis said and pulled his weapon out of the armoury.  
  
“Oh, Your Majesty,” Ardyn made a motion with his hand, gesturing to somewhere over his shoulder. “There’s an emergency hatch back this way. I’m sure we can make use of that, rather than you wasting your energy trying to cut down that door. It would certainly save a lot of time.”  
  
Noctis bit back a sigh. He dismissed his greatsword, side-eyeing Ardyn as he stepped past him once more. He had better be telling the truth about this, or Noctis would make him eat his fist.  
  
He was, thankfully enough. Through the doorway Ardyn and Preston had initially come through, there was a small, square emergency hatch in the narrow hallway. After quickly checking the other smaller rooms—which were, thankfully, devoid of any more soldiers—Noctis headed straight for it and pulled on the release lever, shoving the hatch forward. He ducked down and climbed out through the opening.  
  
He stepped out onto uneven ground, boots slipping against rocks and grass and vines. Noctis frowned up at his surroundings. They seemed to be in a hole of some sort, the beginnings of a cave, rock stretching upwards and surrounding them on every side. He could make out the sky above and the tree branches hanging over, but they were startlingly high up and didn’t reveal a lot else.  
  
There didn’t seem to be a path of any kind, no obvious way in and out of the hole. He would either have to climb or warp if he wanted to get out.  
  
Thick vines covered the rocky walls, tangled with what had to be some of the roots from the trees above. He could always use those. Bury his sword in them and warp his way up, bit by bit. It was a feasible enough plan, provided he didn’t go into stasis before he could reach the top.  
  
There was a cave entrance off to his right, the opening a gaping maw that took up a good portion of the crag, leading into pure darkness. It didn’t look like a good option to take. Even if there was a chance that it could lead upwards, that there was an exit somewhere up on the ground above, he couldn’t take the risk of getting lost inside and unable to find his way back out.  
  
Warping it was, then.  
  
Something rustled behind him, then Ardyn said, “Well, this won’t do at all. How are we supposed to get up there, I wonder?”  
  
“We?” Noctis scowled. He’d almost forgotten Ardyn was there. If  _only_  Ardyn wasn’t there. “There is no  _we_.”  
  
“You would leave a man to rot down here on his own?” Ardyn sounded almost scandalised, but, of course, there was that  _look_  in his eyes. “After everything I’ve done for you?”  
  
“You mean after nearly getting me killed?”  
  
“What about the time I rescued you and your friends from the Disc of Cauthess?” Ardyn shot back. “Or the time I rescued you from our dear old friend Ravus, who seemed  _very_  set upon killing you I might add. Or—”  
  
“Damn it, shut  _up_ ,” Noctis glared at him. “How the hell am I supposed to help  _you_  get out of here? I can’t warp us both up there. That’s not how it works.” Well, he probably  _could_. There was that one time he’d tackled Prompto during training back home and had accidentally warped them both across the hall. But could he warp someone with him repeatedly,  _especially_  someone of Ardyn’s size? Did he  _want_  to?  
  
Hell no.  
  
“No, I suppose not,” Ardyn heaved a heavy sigh, almost  _pouting_. “Go on, then, off you go!” He waved his hands dramatically, as if to shoo Noctis away. “Leave me here, I  _am_  your enemy after all. What good could it possibly do to help an enemy, the same way I—”  
  
Noctis wanted to hit him. He was seconds away from punching that stupid smirk off his face. He settled for shoving his hand through his hair instead, tugging on the roots and growling out, “If you don’t shut up right now, then I  _will_  ram my sword up your ass.”  
  
Ardyn tilted his head thoughtfully. “Well, I haven’t heard it put quite like that before, but I suppose I’m up for anything.”  
  
Noctis groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, tempted to just throw his sword now and make a quick escape.  
  
Really, he  _should_  leave Ardyn behind. It would be the logical thing to do. He was a Niff after all, their enemy, the god damn  _Chancellor_ , and Gladio would smack him upside the head for even hesitating about this.  
  
But Ardyn  _had_  helped them those few times, and seemingly with no benefit to himself. Although there must have been, there had to be some sort of ulterior motive for the times he’d helped them, practically aiding them in secret, but any possible reason why was beyond Noctis. Even his conversation with Preston had seemed strange, as if Ardyn had been  _annoyed_  that he’d been captured in the first place.  
  
He could always help him back up and then be done with him quickly, part ways like it had never happened. It would mean Noctis had saved his life. Ardyn couldn’t hold him in debt for rescuing them from the Disc and from Ravus.  
  
Then again, Ardyn probably had his own way of communicating with his comrades. He could probably summon another airship with the click of a button. Hell, maybe he had one coming right now and they were just wasting their time down here, he would  _kidnap_  Noctis again and they would be back where they’d started—  
  
Yeah, he had to leave. On his own. Right now.  
  
A wail.  
  
Noctis froze, more surprised than anything else, sure he was imagining things—but, no, he wasn’t mistaken. There was a wailing noise echoing out from the cave, from the deep darkness inside, and it sounded awfully like a baby.  
  
Like a  _human_  baby.  
  
“What,” Noctis said.  
  
“How peculiar,” Ardyn murmured.  
  
How could a baby be down  _here_  of all places? Was there someone living here? Had it been abandoned? Or, perhaps, someone had come down from above, travelling through the cave for a place to hide or rest.  
  
But he couldn’t hear any footsteps, or other signs of their being someone else inside that cave. Just the wailing and nothing else.  
  
“Hello?” Noctis called out. Unable to ignore it any longer, he turned on his flashlight and started towards the cave, stepping carefully over rocks and roots as he went.  
  
“You  _are_  joking,” Ardyn muttered. He followed after Noctis, his footsteps heavy against the rocks. “Are you quite insane? Following after a strange noise in a strange cave? Have you no survival instincts whatsoever?”  
  
“Hey, shut up,” Noctis glanced back at him. “That’s a  _baby_. It could be hurt, and I’m not just gonna leave it here if it’s been abandoned. Not all of us are assholes like you.”  
  
“Oh,” Ardyn pressed his hands to his chest, over his heart, his eyes widening dramatically, “you wound me so, to think that I would abandon a child in need.”  
  
Noctis rolled his eyes, turning back to the darkness ahead. His flashlight could only do so much, revealing very little, bouncing off of stone walls and a jagged ceiling. The tunnel crawled on and on, twisting further round, and still there was that wailing, that awful crying echoing down to them, drawing them in deeper and deeper. It hadn’t seemed to react to their voices.  
  
Why would someone abandon a baby here of all places? It didn’t make sense, unless—and he hated the thought already—it was unwanted and someone was hoping it would be dragged off by an animal.  
  
No. Humans could be cruel, but surely not  _that_  cruel.  
  
The wailing grew louder. They must have been close now, but he saw no sign of the baby as he scoured every inch of the ground for it. Noctis grabbed the edge of his jacket so he could tilt his flashlight around here and there, letting the beam search along the floor so he could see better, but still there was no child to be found.  
  
Except—  
  
There  _was_  a shape, deeper in the darkness ahead. His flashlight couldn’t quite reach it properly, so it seemed little more than a dull figure in the dark, a blur of colour that could barely be made out.  
  
It was too tall to be a baby.  
  
“Hello?” Noctis called out. He winced at the way his voice bounced off the walls around them. Behind him, Ardyn was making impatient noises, clicking his tongue and muttering to himself. Why he had chosen to follow Noctis when he clearly held no interest in what was happening was beyond him.  
  
The figure came a little closer and, with it, came the wailing noise. Something stepped into the edges of the flashlight’s beam.  
  
A chill ran down Noctis’s spine. It sounded like a baby, but it certainly wasn’t a baby making that noise. That definitely wasn’t the shape of a baby. It looked—more like a dog. A skinny dog, maybe, with no visible fur, only a shade of unhealthy grey flesh, and with—  
  
With—  
  
“What.” Noctis could only stare. He should get a weapon out, he should leave, there were so many things he should do, but all he could do was  _stare_. It looked so strange, like nothing he had ever seen before, and they had seen  _so much_  on this journey so far.  
  
The dog, the creature,  _whatever it was_ —it had no head.  
  
It had  _no head_.  
  
And yet it still made that noise, that awful wailing, sometimes coughing and choking on its own cries the way any other baby would, but there was nothing that it could possibly make the sound with, just a mangled stump of a neck and  _no head, oh god_ —  
  
“How strange,” Ardyn muttered, as if it was a curiosity instead of a monstrosity, but then he tensed up beside Noctis a split second later. “Oh,  _heavens above_.”  
  
His hand latched around Noctis’s wrist like a vice, tight and unrelenting, and he yanked him back through the cave, back towards the entrance. Noctis yelped at the movement, stumbling over rocks as they went, wincing at the fingers wrapped around him. “Hey!” he bit out. “What the hell? Let me go!”  
  
“Get away from that thing  _now_ ,” Ardyn snapped, and, finally, there was something serious in his voice. He couldn’t place what the emotion was, but it was enough to have the hairs on the back of Noctis’s neck rising as they rushed for the cave’s entrance.  
  
The wailing behind them cut off. Noctis looked back over his shoulder, but it was hard to make anything out without his flashlight pointing in that direction.  
  
An explosion of white gas rushed out from the darkness, rolling out like a tidal wave and enveloping them completely, obscuring Noctis’s vision of the rest of the cave. It  _burned_  where his skin was exposed, until that sensation was crawling across his entire body, singeing every nerve. It crawled along his arms, his neck, up and up. He cried out, covering his face with his hands. His vision wavered, blinked in and out, became blurry, and he stumbled, his arms and legs, every muscle, suddenly weak and wobbly like jelly.  
  
He tripped and fell to the side, twisting his ankle, his shoulder colliding with the cave wall. He heard rocks tumble and staggered footsteps somewhere beside him, but it hurt to open his eyes to see what was going on.  
  
That dreadful wailing again, growing louder and louder, footsteps behind them getting closer—  
  
“Ardyn—” Noctis tried to choke out, but his throat felt like it was full of rocks, like it was made of sandpaper, and it  _hurt_  to speak, to swallow down that gas, to open his eyes, to move his feet. A hand grabbed him again, wrapping around his wrist to pull him along, and he went with it. A human feeling hand was far better than a headless dog that cried like a baby, and he would do  _anything_  to get away from the burning gas.  
  
His ankle twisted again, on another rock. He went down on his knee, hard, pain shooting up his leg. Another hand grabbed his arm, pulling harshly as Ardyn coughed and snapped, “Get up now.  _Move_ , boy.”  
  
Noctis grit his teeth and let the hands pull him back up, moving forwards once more. It was like being underwater, his body weak and nearly powerless, struggling to wade through, his vision still blurred, his hearing off.  
  
He stumbled forwards anyway, until they were finally bathed in the sunlight again, and he collapsed, fell to the grass and closed his eyes as he tried to fight off the dizziness.  
  
He rolled to his stomach and hid his face in his arms, but even then everything still felt like it was wobbling. Like they were on a ship sailing the tumultuous sea. Or an airship plummeting back down to the ground.  
  
It was nauseating. Overwhelming. The roaring in his head grew louder and louder, drowning out the sounds of the world around him. Noctis tried to breathe through it, but it was hopeless. The dancing colours behind his eyelids darkened, until they turned black.  
  
Everything fell silent.  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

  
  
“—you hear me?”  
  
Noctis struggled to open his eyes. They felt stitched shut, uncooperative, the way they seemed whenever he’d get knocked out during a fight and it was a battle in itself to come to again, even with the guys trying to coax him awake as they hovered over him.  
  
Something hovered near him now. A presence. Something that definitely wasn’t any of his friends. It sent alarm bells ringing in his already pounding head, but he couldn’t make his body move when he tried. His fingers twitched, though that was all they did. He groaned in frustration and even that came out quiet and weak, softer than he expected.  
  
“So you _are_ awake. Get up, then. Open your eyes.”  
  
He tried again. It took him a moment, but he managed. He forced his eyes open, only to wince as the sunlight hit them and pierced through his skull. The rest of his senses came back to him, slowly. Things seemed quiet now, aside from the pacing footsteps nearby. He could feel rocks digging into his back beneath him, one sharp in his shoulder blade, but he couldn’t yet move to a more comfortable position to get away from it.  
  
Something wasn’t right about that anyway. When had he rolled onto his back? Had he? He certainly couldn’t remember doing so; he had a distinct memory of burying his face in his arms, pressing downwards, trying to hide away from everything. From the gas and the pain and that awful, _awful_ wailing.  
  
A shudder ran through him at the mere memory of it.  
  
“We have a bit of a problem here.”  
  
Noctis frowned. He still felt a little weak, his body seemed to be made of pure lead and he wasn’t sure if he could move it just yet, but at least he seemed to be unharmed. He didn’t feel like he was burning alive anymore. His vision was a little blurry, sure, but that was most likely down to coming around from unconsciousness and the fact that he had to squint up against the sunlight.  
  
At least that _thing_ seemed to be gone, those horrible wails now silent as if they had never been.  
  
A shadowed figure came closer and hovered over him, blocking out the glare of the sun. “Are you _listening_ to me? We have a problem.”  
  
Noctis focused on the shape above him. As his vision cleared, his confusion grew. A boy stood over him, young, probably ten or so, dark blue eyes staring down at him sharply and black hair flopping over his forehead in a curly, untamed mess.  
  
“Who are—” Noctis started, then froze.  
  
Why was his voice so high pitched?  
  
He quickly forced himself upwards into a sitting position, adrenaline shooting through him like a punch, cold like ice. He looked down at his hands, at his body, his _too small body,_ what the hell—and these clothes, he hadn’t seen these clothes in _years_ —the sneakers, the shorts, the tee, the hoodie—  
  
Oh no. _Oh god no_.  
  
Nonononono, this couldn't be happening—  
  
Noctis looked up at the kid in front of him, then at their surroundings, then back at the kid. There was no one else to be found, and no one had crash landed with them besides Preston, and he was dead, so then this kid had to be—was it—but it _couldn’t_ be—  
  
“Ardyn?” Noctis choked out. His voice came out high pitched again, squeaky, and Noctis jolted at the sound, dread in his gut and heart slamming against his ribs.  
  
This couldn't be happening, _this couldn't be happening—  
  
_The boy, _Ardyn_ —Ardyn was a kid, oh _good god_ , _Ardyn_ was a _kid_ —rolled his eyes and nodded. “Yes,” he said, a little impatiently, in a voice a few pitches higher than Prompto's, _that_ was weird. “Who else would I be? Have you caught on yet?”  
  
“No?” Noctis took him in, looking over his clothes, and—just _what_ was he wearing? Granted they weren’t _too_ unusual—pants tucked into his boots, a tunic, a scarf, gloves, a heavy cloak wrapped over his shoulders—all dark, thick material, but it was in a style Noctis wasn’t familiar with. It must have been old. This child version of Ardyn looked as if he’d been plucked out from decades long gone, and hell if that wasn’t a disorienting thought.  
  
He stared at Ardyn, at this _boy_ , then looked back down at his own smaller body. "This can't be happening. This _isn't_ happening."  
  
"Oh, here we go," Ardyn muttered.  
  
This wasn’t right. He had to fix this. _Now_. Surely he had something in the armoury that could reverse this, whatever it was, a potion or a trinket, _something_ —  
  
Noctis tried to calm his breathing and reached out for it, for that familiar tangle of magic that had become like second nature over the years, but the armoury didn’t respond to him when he tried to grab a potion. He frowned, reaching for a weapon instead, then for a discarded item, for his phone, _anything_ , but—there was nothing. As if it was closed off to him completely, and there was nothing but air and empty space around his hand.  
  
He searched his pockets, but he didn’t have anything on him either. No spare potions, no money, no _nothing_.  
  
Ardyn remained silent, simply staring at him throughout his failed attempts, but now he huffed out a sigh. “For heaven’s sake, you won’t find anything,” he said, and it was _so weird_ to hear that mocking tone coming out of a boy. His voice was far from its usual croak, much softer, and Noctis could only stare back at him for a moment in stunned silence. “We have been reverted to our younger selves,” Ardyn continued, “so anything we had while we were adults is now gone.”  
  
“Our younger selves?” Noctis repeated, feeling slow and dumb. He reached around himself and shoved a hand up his tee, feeling along his back. His fingers came into contact with smooth skin. His scar from the marilith appeared to have vanished, no longer the mottled mass of damaged flesh he had grown so used to over the years, but these clothes were definitely from around that time of his life.  
  
Right. So he was...what, seven or eight years old?  
  
Again, what the _hell_.  
  
Noctis looked up at Ardyn, swallowing past a lump in his throat, trying to squash the rising panic. “How the hell'd this happen?”  
  
“That creature in there,” Ardyn said, motioning to the cave. “It cast a spell to turn us into children.”  
  
“What? Why?”  
  
Ardyn huffed out another, more annoyed sigh. “Because we are _food_ to it. It eats children. Do you want the ‘when’ too?”  
  
Noctis felt a hysterical laugh bubble up in his throat. “How can it eat us? It’s got _no head_.”  
  
“Yes, a truly strange and fascinating creature,” Ardyn muttered, gaze on the cave now. His eyes seemed tight around the edges, his jaw stiff and clenching. A strange look passed over his face for a second, too fast for Noctis to figure out. “In any case,” he continued, “do you really want to concern yourself with the minor details? I understand you are experiencing some sort of breakdown at the moment—"  
  
"I'm not having a breakdown!" Noctis cut him off, maybe a little hysterically given Ardyn's pointed look. "What do you expect? I've been turned into a _kid_ , I think I'm entitled to freak out over that, thank you. I'm sure _you_ did when you found out."  
  
"I'm not one for hysterics," Ardyn said lightly, but his jaw seemed tense again.  
  
Noctis scoffed.  
  
Ardyn folded his arms over his chest, looking unimpressed as he continued, "We are wasting our time down here. There's that little thing in the sky called the sun, and it won’t be up forever. I know _I_ certainly don’t wish to sit around and wait for that creature to come get us when night falls.”  
  
So it was a daemon? Noctis ran his hands over his face—small hands, small face, _god_ , it was so hard to wrap his mind around it—and he let out a sigh. If it was a daemon, then they could just go and kill it, right?  
  
The answer hit him like a sack of bricks. No, they couldn’t go and kill it. He was in his _eight_ year old body, Ardyn didn’t look that much older, and neither of them were strong enough or in the position to be facing up against a daemon in this condition. If he had his magic, then sure, but he didn’t. All he had was empty pockets and tiny hands.  
  
Great. So they had to run. He _hated_ running away.  
  
Except—and there was that sack of bricks again, smacking him in the face unrepentantly—except they were _trapped_ , weren’t they? They still had to find a way to get up to ground level, all because of this stupid hole they had crash landed into thanks to that fight in the airship.  
  
Damn it all, he should have just warped away and left Ardyn behind when he had the chance. He screamed ‘trouble’ on any other given day, but this was _ridiculous_ , and now they were both kids because of this mess, weak, helpless, apparently _tasty,_ _kids_ —  
  
Panicking wasn’t going to get him anywhere. The sun was still up, so he still had some time to get out of this literal hole he was stuck in, and then he would just have to work out where he was, find a safe place, somehow get in touch with the others—  
  
One thing at a time.  
  
He watched Ardyn for a moment, the boy with the strange clothes and the curly black hair, looking nothing like his older self. It didn't seem real; instead it was like watching a mirage or a hallucination, not the Chancellor of Niflheim turned into a child. Ardyn didn’t seem to notice him staring, instead gazing up at their surroundings with a frown, then marching over to the fallen airship to peer through the broken glass of the cockpit.  
  
“How are we gonna get out of here?” Noctis called.  
  
“I’m thinking,” Ardyn replied. “Feel free to do the same, yourself.”  
  
That damn tone again. Noctis grit his teeth, watched as Ardyn rounded the airship and disappeared inside. His heart suddenly leapt to his throat and he climbed to his feet, marching after him. “What are you doing?” he snapped, raising his voice so he could be heard through the metal. “I swear to god, if you’re trying to radio for backup, I’ll—”  
  
Ardyn’s head popped back through the escape hatch, his face exasperated and annoyed as he snapped back, “I’m looking for something that can _help_ us. The radio is damaged, and I wouldn’t think to use it even if it _was_ working, so do kindly shut up and think of a way for us to escape.”  
  
He disappeared back through the hatch.  
  
Well. That was definitely far from the jovial attitude he usually exhibited. It was a little intimidating.  
  
Strange, though. Why _wouldn’t_ he radio for backup? He had every reason to, after all. Even if whoever answered on the other side didn’t believe it was him, surely Ardyn had some sort of code or information he could use to confirm his identity. Then Niflheim should be scrambling to help someone so high up in government, especially if they were ordered to and Ardyn clearly had the authority to do so.  
  
Noctis sighed. It didn’t matter. He was just wasting more time.  
  
He glanced back at the cave, eyeing it with trepidation. That _thing_ was still in there, waiting them out probably, biding its time until it could pounce. No way could they try their luck through the tunnel; they still didn’t know if there was another way out of it, and he certainly didn’t want to take his chances with that daemon again.  
  
If Ardyn couldn’t find anything in the airship, then that only left going up. Warping was out of the question now, of course. He'd considered climbing out a viable option, but that was before that damn daemon had gotten to them and turned them into _this_. Was it even an option anymore?  
  
He glanced at the cave again, a sinking feeling in his stomach. Did he even have a choice?  
  
Behind him, Ardyn clambered back out of the airship. “Nothing,” he muttered, almost to himself. “They rely far too much on their machinery if you ask me.”  
  
Noctis sighed heavily. “Guess that solves that then.” Staring upwards, he approached the wall in front of him, eyeing the vines and roots crawling along the rocky surface like veins.  
  
“What are you doing?” Ardyn called.  
  
Noctis didn’t bother looking back at him. “Getting out of here.” Some of the roots looked small enough to wrap his hands around, and they didn’t budge or break when he tugged on them. They seemed good enough, like maybe they could hold his weight.  
  
Well, in theory.  
  
There was the annoying fact that this body was untrained, unused to combat or any physical activity whatsoever outside of running and playing soccer. He and Ignis had climbed some of the trees in the Citadel’s gardens a few times as a dare to each other, but those trees had been small things and Ignis had mostly helped him up them anyway. It was nothing like the task before him now, with this tall, straight cliff face and a bigger drop the higher he would get. The kind of drop that could break bones and end lives.  
  
He attempted the climb anyway.  
  
His arms began to ache and tremble not too far up the cliff face. Resting his feet against the rocks beneath the vines didn’t help much either. He couldn’t have been up for more than half a minute before he had to quickly change course and get his feet back on the ground again. He let out a frustrated grunt as he stepped back and glared up at the top of the hole.  
  
He hadn't started the climb right, that was all. He could do this.  
  
Ardyn made a huff noise. “I suppose I’ll have to help—”  
  
“Don’t come near me,” Noctis snapped out, frustrated, though it didn’t sound very intimidating in his younger voice. “I think you’ve helped enough today. I can get myself up.”  
  
“Suit yourself,” Ardyn said. He approached the vines next to Noctis with his usual swagger, though it looked odd on his smaller body. He was at least a head higher than Noctis, maybe slightly bigger muscle wise, and, most annoyingly, he didn’t seem to have nearly as much trouble as he grabbed the roots and hoisted himself up.  
  
Noctis bit back an annoyed noise, but didn’t comment on it. Instead, he focused on his own climb.  
  
He took a moment to prepare himself, then grabbed onto the vines once more. It couldn’t be any different than climbing those trees with Ignis. He just had to watch where he placed his hands and feet, not think about how deep the hole actually was, and then he’d be up in no time at all.  
  
He began climbing again.  
  
Except maybe his body was still reeling from the gas attack and the transformation. His palms felt too sweaty and they slid against the roots and vines. The muscles in his arms and stomach felt like they were burning already. It was _maddening_. As an adult, his body was in peak condition, honed for battle and exercise and acrobatics. To be _this_ again, and so suddenly at that, made him want to scream.  
  
He forced himself to keep climbing anyway. If Gladio was here, he would tell him to keep going. It wasn't as if he had any other choice in the matter, anyway.  
  
He rose his foot, pulled himself up with the vines, ignored the way his arms shook as they took his weight. Above him, Ardyn climbed up a little further, slowly, as if being cautious, face turning to look down at him briefly.  
  
Noctis ignored him.   
  
He kept moving. Grabbed this vine here, pulled himself upwards so he could press his sneaker against that rock there. His leg muscles strained as he pushed himself up, something scraped against his bare shin, his arms shook a little.  
  
Something tumbled beneath him. The sound of rocks clattering against rock, falling and falling. He froze for a moment, breath hitching in his throat, before quickly scouting out the next part he could climb to. There was a little gap he could stick his foot in, further up, he only needed to stretch his arm out as far as it would go to hold onto that bundle of vines up there.  
  
He reached out for it, wrapping his fingers around them tightly, then lifted his foot to move upwards.  
  
His hands slipped. The rock beneath his foot crumbled from underneath him—then there was only air. He cried out as he began to fall, hands scrabbling desperately, nails scraping against rock and roots—  
  
Fingers slapped around his wrist, gripped at him, tight and bruising.  
  
“Ow!” Noctis glared up at Ardyn. “Let go, that hurts!”  
  
Ardyn, _somehow_ , was holding onto a vine with one hand, onto Noctis with the other. It mustn’t have been easy; his eyes were scrunched up and his teeth were clenched together, his body bent at an awkward angle. “Grab onto a vine and get down,” he bit out. When Noctis only glared back at him, he said, “ _Now_ , before we both fall.”  
  
He did as he was told. It was either that or drop and risk hurting himself, and Noctis didn’t want to take the chance that he might break a leg—or worse. Carefully, he grabbed onto the roots again, found his footing, and slowly made his way back down to the bottom of the hole, trying to ignore the way his heart was beating a little too quickly.  
  
Once his feet were on the grass and rocks again, he wiped his sweaty palms against his shorts and glared up at the vines above.  
  
“This will _not_ do,” Ardyn said, climbing back down and eyeing him critically. “You clearly lack the strength to follow through with this.”  
  
“It’s not my fault,” Noctis muttered. “It’s this stupid body.”  
  
Ardyn sighed. “If you want to make it to the top before the sun sets—or at all, in fact—then I'm afraid you’re going to have to hold onto me.”  
  
_Hell_ no. “Hell no,” he said out loud. At Ardyn’s raised eyebrows, Noctis gestured a hand between them. “Look at you, you can’t be that much stronger than I am. You’ll fall and get us both killed. No way.”  
  
“If you are on my back,” Ardyn said, slowly, eyebrows climbing higher into his hair, “then I can get us both up there. I'm strong enough to do it. I’m afraid it’s either that or we remain stuck down here. Or we can always pay a visit to our little friend back in there, see if it feels generous enough to let us past in the hopes that the cave leads upwards. Does that sound like a reasonable gamble to you?”  
  
He hated that tone. Even more so coming out of that stupid little face, with that stupid little voice. Noctis crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the cave. He definitely didn’t want to take his chances with the daemon, not when they were both like this, but to have _Ardyn_ help him _again_ ….  
  
He glared up at the hole. He hadn't gotten far before his body had begun to struggle with the task. Could he really take the risk of trying again? Ardyn might not be there to catch him next time if he fell, and next time the drop could be fatal.  
  
Damn it. _Damn it_.  
  
He couldn’t let his pride get in the way. His survival came first, no matter what. If this was the only way to get out of here, then he had no choice but to go along with it.  
  
Noctis sighed. “Fine, but if you drop us…”  
  
Ardyn gave him that insufferable look. The one with the cat-like smile and the hooded eyes, like everything was a damn joke to him and he was watching the world make a fool of itself. It looked worse on his younger face. “Why, I wouldn’t _dream_ of it, Your Majesty,” he said.  
  
He hated it. He hated it, he hated it, he _hated_ it. He climbed onto Ardyn’s back, shuffling until they were both comfortable, until Noctis had his arms and legs wrapped around him and that stupid curly hair was tickling his nose and his cheeks, and he _hated it_ , but he held on tight because he simply had no other choice.  
  
It felt terrible, being out of control of the situation like this. His heart might have been in his throat a little as Ardyn approached the wall.  
  
“Don’t strangle me, now,” Ardyn muttered, grunting as he pulled them up and began to climb.  
  
“Sorry,” Noctis muttered back. He loosened his grip a little around Ardyn’s shoulders, where they had been tightening unconsciously around his neck. He could feel the strain in the body beneath him, and it was a little concerning, but Ardyn didn’t seem to be faltering. Noctis cleared his throat carefully. “You sure you can do this?”  
  
Ardyn grunted again. “Perfectly sure. I’ve done this many a time as a boy.” He paused for a moment, blowing his hair out of his face. “And you aren’t exactly heavy. They did feed you as a child, didn’t they?”  
  
Why was Ardyn always so chatty? “Yes,” Noctis mumbled. His minders had always said he was scrawny at this age because he didn’t eat his vegetables, and he _must_ eat his vegetables if he wanted to grow up big and strong like his dad.  
  
Thinking of his father was enough to sour his mood even further. Because here he was, holding onto the damn Chancellor of Niflheim, someone who worked for the very people who had murdered his father and had taken everything away from him, who were constantly hunting Noctis and his friends down like animals, who had _kidnapped_ him today and had him crash land into a hole where he’d been turned into a freaking _child_ by a daemon—  
  
And, no doubt, the others would find his current predicament hilarious. He could hear Gladio’s hysterical laughter already, that deep, goofy guffaw, the one that brought tears to his eyes and had him slapping a hand against his leg. Ignis would have that smug little smirk, already prepared with a pun that Noctis would probably have to deck him for, and Prompto would do that wide mouthed silent laughter thing that creeped him out a little.  
  
Well, that was after they were done being pissed as hell and looking for some imperial heads to bash in, of course. But after that, there would be laughter and knee slapping and puns and no sympathy for Noctis whatsoever, he was sure of it.  
  
Yeah, today sucked. Everything sucked.  
  
Ardyn’s hand wrapped around a new vine as he lifted them up, but it crumbled under his grip like dust and they both jerked downwards. Ardyn’s feet quickly scrambled for purchase as he slipped. Noctis gasped, his breath ripped from him, and he reached out to grab one of the thicker vines, his other arm tightening around Ardyn’s shoulders. Ardyn’s own hands scraped against the rocks as he scrambled to hold onto something, his fingers eventually digging into bits of jutting out stone.  
  
Once they were steady again, Noctis swallowed and breathed out, “Here. This one.”  
  
“Very well,” Ardyn murmured. His hand replaced Noctis’s on the vine, and Noctis blinked, surprised to see it wasn’t that much bigger than his own. Another unwanted reminder of their situation.  
  
“That was too close,” he said.  
  
Ardyn made a small noise of agreement. “It shan’t happen again.”  
  
Noctis tilted his head, tightening his arms around the shoulders beneath him as he looked down at the ground below. Quite _far_ below them now at this point, the kind of height that didn’t seem survivable for an adult let alone two boys. Noctis cursed and quickly looked away. “I hope not,” he bit out.  
  
“Don’t look down,” Ardyn muttered. “Foolish boy.”  
  
“A bit late for that, thanks. Can we just get moving again?”  
  
“Ah yes, of course, I live to serve,” Ardyn sighed, but he began moving again.  
  
They continued upwards. Noctis tugged on other vines as they went, testing their sturdiness, pointing out which ones Ardyn should grab. He refused to look down again, to see how far the drop was now. If they were going to fall, then he’d rather not see it.  
  
“Must’ve been some big trees you were climbing,” Noctis muttered into Ardyn’s hair, when the silence became too uncomfortable.  
  
Ardyn paused and shifted his grip, one hand holding onto a vine, the other on a jutting out rock. “Pardon?”  
  
“When you were a kid,” Noctis said. “You must have climbed some big trees.”  
  
Ardyn remained silent for a moment. “I suppose.”  
  
So much for that conversation. Noctis huffed. It figured that Ardyn would be chatty on his own terms, while silent on anyone else’s. Well screw that.  
  
“You know,” he said, maybe a little snappy, “You are _way_ too calm about this whole situation. It’s kinda making me uncomfortable.”  
  
“Am I, indeed?” Ardyn muttered. He stretched his leg out, pulling them up to another foothold. “You can read minds, can you? You can see into my thoughts? Then do tell me what I’m thinking at this very moment. It would be an impressive trick, even to me.”  
  
Noctis scoffed.  
  
“My apologies if you expect me to cry over spilt milk,” Ardyn said. “I’m afraid that’s rather not my style, but you can go on ahead if that’s what you wish to do.”  
  
Noctis fought back the urge to tighten his hold around Ardyn’s neck and strangle him right there and then.  
  
Finally, they reached the top of the hole. Noctis held on tight as Ardyn practically dragged them over the edge, praying something wouldn’t happen at the last minute to make them fall. As soon as they were steady on flat ground again and away from the hole, Noctis jumped down from his back, moving away from both of them, grateful for the distance.  
  
Ignoring Ardyn’s stare, he turned in every direction. They’d managed to make it out of the hole, now he had to work out where they were.  
  
Hills and trees stretched on for miles on nearly every side, hardly anything memorable enough to help him place his location, and that sinking feeling was coming back again, heavy in his chest and stomach. _Please don't let this be Niflheim, please, please—  
  
_Then he saw it. Behind and to the left, he could make out the familiar, unmistakable plumes of smoke crawling up through the air just beyond one of the hills.  
  
Ravatogh. He was certain of it.  
  
A surge of relief ran through him at the sight; that meant he was still in Lucis and his chances of reuniting with the guys were far greater than he’d anticipated. He could get back and get help.  
  
Although _where_ in Lucis, exactly, he had no idea. Given how close to Ravatogh he was, then it had to be Cleigne, but nothing around him looked even remotely familiar.  
  
Noctis huffed out a sigh and ran his hand over his face. Right, then. He could do this. Surely it couldn't be that hard to find his way around.  
  
He could make out a road nearby, off up the small bank to the right. It was a start, and better than nothing. He would just have to follow that in one direction and hope he would come across something he’d seen before sooner or later. Maybe he could even hitch a ride from a passing driver.  
  
If such a thing existed out here. It seemed almost deathly quiet, with no signs of anyone anywhere, and he was sure someone would have come to investigate the imperial airship crash landing out of the sky had they been nearby. That wasn't just something to ignore, was it?  
  
He could see the damage the airship had done now that he was on ground level again, and it looked horrible from up here. Noctis eyed the path of destruction with a lump forming in his throat. Trees had been crushed and broken, dirt had been kicked up, and the line of chaos led directly into the large hole they had just crawled out of. It had been too hard to think of anything going on outside while he had been busy trying to stay alive, but seeing the damage and what they had gone through now, from a literal outside perspective, was enough to make his head feel light again.  
  
He still couldn’t believe he had even survived such an ordeal.  
  
“So,” Ardyn said suddenly, and Noctis jumped. He had forgotten he was still there. “Where are we off to, then?”  
  
Noctis stared at him. “There’s no _we_.”  
  
“Ah, back to this again, of course.” Ardyn smiled at him, as if amused. “And after I helped you escape that hole, when I simply could have left you there. After I helped you, yet again.”  
  
Noctis clenched his jaw. No way were they doing _this_ again; that was how he’d ended up in this mess in the first place. “Yeah, thanks for that, you were a big help. But I gotta go now.” He waved his hand dismissively, trying not to come across as _too_ rude. “Why don’t you, I don’t know, call for your Niff friends to come pick you up?”  
  
Ardyn levelled him with an unimpressed stare.  
  
Right. They didn’t have any of their adult belongings on them anymore. Noctis grimaced and shrugged. “Whatever, I’m sure you’ll figure something out. I’m leaving now.”  
  
He turned before Ardyn could say or do anything to stop him, quickly heading for the road, forcing himself not to glance back even out of curiosity. He kept his eyes forward instead, looking out for any signs of danger. If a wild animal were to attack him now, there would be nothing he could do about it. He had no weapons, no magic to help him. No friends. He didn’t stand a chance against anything while he was stuck like this.  
  
Noctis kicked a loose rock in frustration. How was he going to fix this anyway? He certainly hadn’t heard of anything like it before, though, granted, he and the others weren’t exactly seasoned hunters even after their time on the road so far. Was there a potion he needed for this, maybe something as simple as an antidote?  
  
Maybe Cor knew how to deal with it. Given his knowledge of everything else, Noctis sure hoped he did, or else they were well and truly screwed. An eight year old couldn’t take back a kingdom from their enemies.  
  
He reached the top of the bank and climbed over the guardrail, then paused. He could hear footsteps walking along the grass behind him. Noctis glanced over his shoulder and, sure enough, Ardyn was following him again, still with that almost-amused stare.  
  
He looked small, walking up the bank like that. Noctis’s hands looked small, too, clenching around the guardrail.  
  
Noctis glared at him. “Don’t follow me!”  
  
“Why would I do that?” Ardyn called back. “I’m afraid there is just the one road in this area, which means I’m merely heading in the same direction you happen to be walking in. That isn’t a crime in your country, is it, Your Majesty?”  
  
He _hated_ the way Ardyn said that. _Your Majesty_. With a certain mocking undertone to it. It sounded even worse coming out of that little boy’s mouth, with that smarmy look on his stupid little face. Noctis bit back any retorts he had, turned around and began walking again.  
  
He heard Ardyn shuffle over the guardrail behind him, heard his footsteps against the concrete, still heading the same way Noctis was choosing despite the fact that the road stretched out in two directions. Why he couldn’t just go the opposite way was a mystery. Then again, this was _Ardyn_ , so maybe it wasn’t.  
  
He lasted all of ten seconds before he whirled on Ardyn again, hissing, “Merely heading in the same direction, huh? You’re following me, just admit it!”  
  
Ardyn raised his eyebrows, his lips twitching briefly. “Ah, thinking _that_ highly of yourself, are you?”  
  
“Please,” Noctis scoffed, “like you haven’t been stalking me since the beginning. Galdin Quay, Lestallum—”  
  
“Again, thinking so highly of yourself,” Ardyn did smile this time, clearly amused by the whole thing. “There are three others in that group of yours, I could just as easily be following one of them, if that _was_ indeed what I was doing.”  
  
Noctis stared, clenched his hands into fists, so very tempted to actually hit him, though he doubted he could really pack a punch like this. “Right,” he bit out. “And the fact that you just so happen to be the Chancellor of Niflheim and I’m the heir to the throne of Lucis?”  
  
Ardyn kept that smile on his face, tilted his head back so his eyes were hooded. “A coincidence,” he said softly.  
  
“Right,” Noctis repeated, not buying any of it. He’d almost forgotten Ardyn’s eyes were blue now, and it felt unnerving to stare into them, to have them stare back at him. Noctis swallowed and tried his best to harden his voice. “Just leave me alone, okay?”  
  
“Correct me if I’m mistaken here, but _you_ are the one talking to _me_ , are you not?”  
  
He most certainly did _not_ stomp away like an angry child, putting Ardyn behind him and speeding up to try and gain some distance between them. He heard a chuckle from over his shoulder, followed by those footsteps again, and Noctis had to force himself to take in a deep breath and let it out just as slowly.  
  
Whatever. Ardyn could walk in whichever direction he wanted. He would probably get bored of it eventually, and then Noctis would lose him soon enough.  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to all the comments, kudos and bookmarks on this fic! I loved the reaction the daemon got, alas I can't take credit for that particular horror as it's inspired from folklore lol. Its name drops in the next chapter, where I'll also leave a note where I got the inspiration from.
> 
> Updates on this fic will most likely be sporadic, as I'm sick irl, but this fic _will_ be updated, since I adore it and I want to see it fully uploaded.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading! Much love to everyone <33333
> 
> You can find me [here](http://ivorydice.tumblr.com/) at tumblr!

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me [here at tumblr](https://ivorydice.tumblr.com).


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